Roston Letner spearheaded LaFollette Middle School’s 40-27 rout Thursday night of visiting district boy’s basketball rival Oak Ridge-Jefferson.
Letner, a point guard, led all scorers with 14 points for the Owls (8-4 overall).
Jake Hatmaker and Jamar Anderson paced Jefferson with 7 points each. By halftime, LaFollette was in command, 22-10. The Owls led by as many as 22 points with just over 4 minutes left in the fourth quarter before pulling their starters. Rounding out the scoring for the LaFollette boys was Ethan Jeffers with 7 points; Dakota Dossett, Austin North and Jake Ivey 4 points each; Durrand Jackson and Logan Stanfield 2 points each; and Andrew Evans with 1. In the girl’s contest, unbeaten Jefferson prevailed 33-32 in overtime on a free throw by Mattie Livengood with 1 second left. Livengood scored 4 of her team-high 13 points in overtime for the Lady Eagles. Amber Guy and Kendra King paced the Lady Owls (1-4 district, 9-9 overall) with 13 and 12 points, respectively. Faith Evans added 3 points for LaFollette, followed by Katie Hamblin with 2.
The game was tied 29-29 at the end of regulation. Livengood was fouled on a 3-point shot with 1 second left in OT and was awarded 3 free throws for her trouble. After she missed her first free throw attempt, LaFollette coach Marsha Morton called a timeout to try and ice her. Livengood missed a second attempt, but hit the third to clinch the victory for Jefferson.

Dwane Wilder

Roston Letner (20) sets up for a jump shot while being closely guarded by Jefferson’s Jake Livengood (3).